2015/322

Judicial Salaries and Allowances Determination (No 2) 2015

Pursuant to sections 12B(1) and 19 of the Remuneration Authority Act 1977 and,—

(a)

in relation to the Chief Justice and the other Judges of the Supreme Court, the President of the Court of Appeal and the other Judges of the Court of Appeal, and the Chief High Court Judge and the other Judges of the High Court, to section 9A(1)(a) and (b) of the Judicature Act 1908:

(b)

in relation to the Chief District Court Judge, the Principal Family Court Judge, the Principal Youth Court Judge, the Principal Environment Judge, and the other District Court Judges, to section 6(1)(a) and (b) of the District Courts Act 1947:

(c)

in relation to the Chief Judge of the Employment Court and the other Judges of the Employment Court, to section 206(1)(a) and (b) of the Employment Relations Act 2000:

(d)

in relation to the Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court, the Deputy Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court, and the other Judges of the Maori Land Court, to section 13(1)(a) and (b) of Te Ture Whenua Maori Act 1993:

(e)

in relation to the Associate Judges of the High Court, to section 26F(1)(a) and (b) of the Judicature Act 1908:

(f)

in relation to the chief coroner, to section 110(1)(b) of the Coroners Act 2006,—

the Remuneration Authority makes the following determination (to which is appended an explanatory memorandum).

Contents

1
Title

2
Commencement

3
Expiry

4
Salaries of judicial officers

5
Principal allowances of judicial officers

6
Principal allowance of Chief High Court Judge for secondary residential accommodation in Wellington

7
Principal allowance of District Court Judge who is chief coroner

8
Revocation

Schedule Salaries and principal allowances

Explanatory memorandum

Administrative Information

Determination

1 Title


This determination is the Judicial Salaries and Allowances Determination (No 2) 2015.

2 Commencement


This determination is deemed to have come into force on 1 October 2015.

3 Expiry


This determination expires on 30 September 2016.

4 Salaries of judicial officers


The salaries payable to the judicial officers specified in the Schedule must be paid at the respective rates set out in that schedule.

5 Principal allowances of judicial officers


Principal allowances for general expenses must be paid to the judicial officers specified in the Schedule at the respective rates set out in that schedule.

6 Principal allowance of Chief High Court Judge for secondary residential accommodation in Wellington

(1)

This clause applies if the Chief High Court Judge—

(a)

has his or her primary place of residence in Auckland; and

(b)

owns or rents on a continuous basis residential accommodation in Wellington (the secondary residential accommodation); and

(c)

uses the secondary residential accommodation in lieu of overnight accommodation.

(2)
If this clause applies, the Chief High Court Judge must be paid, as a principal allowance for the secondary residential accommodation, the amount of the actual and reasonable expenses incurred by him or her in relation to that accommodation.

(3)
The maximum yearly rate of the principal allowance payable on and after 1 October 2015 is $20,000.

7 Principal allowance of District Court Judge who is chief coroner


If a District Court Judge holds the office of chief coroner, he or she must be paid a principal allowance at the rate of $10,000 per annum in addition to the salary and principal allowance set out in the Schedule.

8 Revocation


The Judicial Salaries and Allowances Determination 2015 (LI 2015/6) is revoked.

Schedule Salaries and principal allowances

cls 4, 5

Judicial officer

Yearly rate of salary payable on and after 1 October 2015 ($)

Yearly principal allowance for general expenses payable on and after 1 October 2015 ($)

Chief Justice

514,000

7,900

Judge of the Supreme Court

482,500

6,500

President of the Court of Appeal

482,500

6,500

Judge of the Court of Appeal

453,000

5,600

Chief High Court Judge

451,500

5,600

Judge of the High Court

431,000

5,600

Associate Judge of the High Court

329,000

4,100

Chief District Court Judge

431,000

5,000

Principal Family Court Judge

374,500

5,000

Principal Youth Court Judge

353,500

5,000

Principal Environment Judge

353,500

5,000

District Court Judge

329,000

4,100

Chief Judge of the Employment Court

409,500

5,600

Judge of the Employment Court

370,500

4,700

Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court

374,500

5,000

Deputy Chief Judge of the Maori Land Court

353,500

4,700

Judge of the Maori Land Court

329,000

4,100

Dated at Wellington this 8th day of December 2015.
Angela Foulkes,Member.
Diane Morcom,Member.

Explanatory memorandum

This memorandum is not part of the determination, but is intended to indicate its general effect.
This determination, which is deemed to have come into force on 1 October 2015 and expires on 30 September 2016, sets the salaries and principal allowances for the Judges of the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court and District Court benches (including the salary and allowance of a District Court Judge who currently holds the judicial office of chief coroner), the Employment Court, and the Maori Land Court.

The Remuneration Authority (the Authority) is required to have regard to the following when setting judicial remuneration and allowances:

the need to achieve and maintain fair relativity with the levels of remuneration received elsewhere; and

the need to be fair both—

to the persons or group of persons whose remuneration is being determined; and
to the taxpayer; and

the need to recruit and retain competent persons.

In addition, the Authority must take into account—

the requirements of the position concerned; and
the conditions of service enjoyed by the persons whose remuneration is being determined and those enjoyed by the persons or members of the group of persons whose remuneration and conditions of employment are, in the opinion of the Authority, comparable with those of the persons or members of the group of persons whose remuneration is being determined.

The Authority must also take into account any prevailing adverse economic conditions, based on evidence from an authoritative source, and may determine the remuneration at a rate lower than it would otherwise have determined.

In setting the remuneration for the judiciary for the year from 1 October 2015, the information that the Authority considered included—

submissions made by the Chief Justice, Supreme Court Judges, Appeal Court Judges, High Court Judges, Employment Court Judges, District Court Judges including Environment Court Judges and Maori Land Court Judges; and
remuneration data made available to it in respect of private sector legal remuneration of groups with comparable skills and experience and from which groups it can be expected that High Court Judges could be recruited; and
growth in the New Zealand Consumers Price Index and labour market statistics as published by the Government Statistician over the previous year; and
information on the recruitment of Judges from a range of sources, including the Attorney-General, the Chief Justice, and Heads of Benches; and
remuneration data for senior positions in the public sector; and
conditions of employment enjoyed by members of the judiciary; and
prevailing economic conditions.

Against that background, the Authority has made an increase of approximately 2% in salaries across all courts.
The salary increases for the Judges in this determination are broadly in line with the adjustments made by the Authority in 2015 in respect of other groups and senior positions in the public sector for which it sets remuneration.
The Authority this year reviewed the principal allowances applicable to each judicial position and has confidence that these fairly represent expenditure by the judiciary in the course of their work.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.
Date of notification in Gazette: 17 December 2015.